Instagram leans into long-form video: What it means for brands and creators

Key points

• Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, said he’d been against long-form video on Instagram for a long time but that Instagram will now “lean in.”
• The new long-form Instagram videos will be called Features and be as long as 90 minutes
• Instagram wants short and long video to be “symbiotic” on mobile and on Instagram’s TV app.
• Meta leaders said new Instagram functionality would start rolling out in October 2026

Instagram just did the thing its own boss swore it wouldn’t do.

“For a long time, I have been against doing long-form video on Instagram.” That’s how Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, opened the video he posted on Oct. 26, 2026, with Tessa Lyons, Instagram’s VP of product. A few seconds later he flipped it: “we are actually going to lean in.”

The two recorded the announcement as a long-form video, too. It runs about six and a half minutes.

What did Instagram announce about long-form video?

Instagram is going to support longer videos alongside Instagram Reels, “both in the mobile app but also on the TV app,” Mosseri said.

Some of the functions “start rolling out this month,” he said, and they’ll reach “more and more people and more and more features over time.”

Lyons put it simply: “We’re starting to test.”

Don’t expect it all at once. Mosseri said the TV side will “take some time to get right” and called the project “a long journey together.”

For Lyons, it’s a full-circle moment. She was the product lead on Reels when it launched and worked closely with Mosseri on Instagram’s short-form video. Now she’s working on what she called “the beginning of our journey on long-form video.”

These long-form horizontal videos called “Features” will be up to 90 minutes long during the testing phase, which began with a group of creators in Brazil before expanding Oct. 26 to selected creators in the United States, according to Variety. The publication said up to eight Instagram Reels could be pointed to one long-form Feature video.

Why Instagram changed its mind on long-form video

Instagram runs on people sharing short Reels with friends. “We DM Reels to each other all the time,” Lyons said.

For a long time, Mosseri worried long videos would cut into that. One of his concerns was keeping Instagram about “connecting with friends.” If you watch one video for “10 or 20 or 30 minutes,” he said, “it’s a lot of Reels, photos and carousels that you might not have sent to a friend,” which means “less likes, less sends, less messages, less friend connections.”

Emplifi’s data shows how big a part sharing already plays for brand accounts. In Emplifi’s Q3 2026 social media benchmarks, which cover 77,038 brand Instagram profiles worldwide, shares are the second-largest interaction on brand posts after likes, on every format. Shares relative to accounts reached rose 52% year over year worldwide.

Now Instagram wants both. Mosseri described short and long video as “symbiotic” and used podcasts and comedy specials as examples. The long version is something “you might want to sit back and enjoy,” and the clips are “really snackable.”

Lyons made the creative case. “Instagram is all about connecting people over creativity,” she said. “And creativity is so much more than just short-form video or just posting carousels.” People already get together to watch Reels in their living rooms, she added, and to do TV well, “we need more than just short-form video.”

How will people find and watch long videos on Instagram?

Clips do the work. Lyons said many creators are already “producing longer videos” and “using clips of those videos to drive discovery on Reels and help build their audience.”

Say you find a short clip while scrolling Reels on your phone, and you like it. That evening you open Instagram on your TV. Because Instagram knows you watched that Reel, it could ask if you want to finish the full episode.

That’s the path Instagram has in mind, and its leaders said they’re “already starting to see” people find long videos through Reels in testing.

So we’d plan around the clip. Most people won’t send a friend a 40-minute video. A 30-second moment from it is easy to send, and that moment is what leads someone to the full video.

Reels stays central. “Reels is still going to be a core part of Instagram,” the video says, and longer videos are for when you “want to go deeper with the creators you love.”

Long-form is part of a bigger video play

Lyons pointed to creators making “episodic content where a bunch of short-form videos are strung together in a series.” Her take: “Those are awesome, and I love them.”

She also noted that creators go live, and said Instagram wants to do “a good job of serving” the formats creators already use. And for people who watch together at home, “we’ve been working on a TV version of Reels.”

Instagram is building all of this in the open. The team plans to share design reviews and behind-the-scenes work from its video teams, including how it collects feedback from creators. Mosseri and Lyons both asked viewers to leave feedback in the comments.

Add it up and Instagram is making room for longer, episodic and live video, on the phone and on the TV.

Since Spring 2026, Variety reports Instagram has been working with select creators to house episodic Reels in their own location on profiles, almost like a YouTube playlist. Testing has reportedly been ongoing in the U.S., Mexico and India and is expected to expand.

Instagram is now available on Apple TV, writes The Desk, which reported Meta’s previous release of IG apps for Google TV, Amazon Fire TV and Samsung devices.

What Instagram long-form video means for creators

• Treat your best Reels as trailers. Clips are Instagram’s route to the full video, so cut moments that work on their own and leave people wanting the rest.
• Give long videos a clear structure and a payoff at the end. The path Instagram describes ends with an offer to “finish watching.”
• Think in episodes, since Lyons singled out series as a format she loves and a series gives followers a reason to come back.
• Leave feedback during the test. Mosseri and Lyons asked for it in the comments, so early creators get a say in the product.

What it means for brand social teams

• Plan long pieces and clips together. A webinar or a customer interview can each feed several Reels that point back to the full video.
• Make long pieces that hold up on a TV. Instagram is building long video for the living room, so frame the moments you’ll later cut into vertical Reels.
• Start a recurring series. It gives your team a reason to post on a schedule and gives people a reason to come back.
• Keep Reels at the center of your calendar. Instagram says Reels stays core, so long video gets added to the plan.
• Partner with creators who already make long videos. Instagram is building for formats like podcasts and comedy specials, and creator partners put your brand inside the shows their audiences already watch.

Bottom line: Video belongs in your 2027 Instagram strategy

Instagram’s leaders spent six and a half minutes on camera explaining why they’re putting more into video, on mobile and on TV.

Even Instagram Lives are getting an update. Variety says they’ll soon be shown beyond just your followers, with the ability for wider audiences to discover your livestreams in the Reels tab.

Video needs to be part of your Instagram strategy in 2027.

We’ve got the tools to help you scale it. Emplifi Unified Analytics, Emplifi’s social media analytics software, puts your Instagram performance and every other connected network on one screen, so you can see which clips earn shares. You can ask Fuel AI, the agentic intelligence layer built into Emplifi Fuel, about your performance in plain language and get a chart and summary back. Emplifi Publisher lets you plan a long video and its clips as one campaign.

Let’s book a call.